You will DEFINITELY want to visit "The Island"

Rating: 10/10 (9 July 2005)

REVIEW OF ADVANCED SCREENING OF "THE ISLAND"
"The Island" was one of the most inventive, actionous, creative, entertaining, captivating movies that I've seen in a while. Its most likely going to draw comparisons to "Minority Report", and on a shallow basis, it is similar.
But "The Island" is one of those movies that astounds you as you watch. Its vision of the not-too-distant future is cool and high-tech without being a little too CG like in "Minority Report". It is realistic, detailed, and truly amazing.
I do not want to go into details about the plot or setup. This is the glory of the movie. Even elements of the plots that aren't twists should stay secrets before the film's opening on July 22, simply because of their sheer coolness. The fun of the film was going into knowing nothing, because everything about it is a wonderful surprise, from the plot, to the set, to the acting to the action, to the spectacular set pieces.
And DO NOT let the Michael Bay reputation put you off this film. I don't know what happened, but this is not only his best movie, but one of the best action thrillers I've ever seen.
Go, see "The Island", and don't read much about it, watch too many clips or ask people who've seen it about it. While the plot is not distinctly new in terms of Utopian thrillers, the execution of the film, with its mega action AND gentle human relationships and ethical discussion, is something very unique in this summer's stream of mediocre films. I thought "Batman Begins" was OK, a step above the rest of the series, and I was thoroughly entertained in "War of the Worlds". "The Island" however got my pulse pumping, and sucked me into the lives of the characters - it is rare that I CANNOT stop saying to myself "I can't believe how great this is" during a movie. The only other movie I did this in was "Minority Report", until the last 20 minutes, which, like most Spielberg films of late, fizzled. Comparing both films, "The Island" was much more suspenseful utterly and completely gripping and rewarding. It also has its share of laughs and shocks. Although the film is PG-13, you wouldn't notice, even with its lack of blood, because it carries countless scenes that evoked gasps from the audience - good gasps. I was very pleasantly surprised.
From this review you know very little about the film - and thats a good thing. Be surprised, and let the film take you in - with sympathetic characters, wonderful writing, some good humor, great action, and even a good finale, "The Island" is something I will watch over and over wondering why Michael Bay wasted his time on "Pearl Harbor" when he could have made three "Island"s by now. And no, it doesn't even need a sequel, and the ending doesn't demand one like "Batman Begins" or "Fantastic Four"...but you'll want one anyway, its that good.
An easy 10/10 P.S. - If you didn't already know it, Scarlett Johanssen is freakin hot, and Michael Bay takes full advantage of that fact ;)